Vacuum sealing machine



'Marhll. 1-925.

A. S. DONDERO'ET AL VACUUM SEALING MACHINE Filed June 1, 1921 6Sheets-Sheet 1 W TNESS l INVENTORS ALB/N0 5. DONUE'QO GEOEGf A. BAEDETTkwdy I ATTORNEYS March 24. 1925. 1,531,081

A. S. 'DONDERO ET AL VACUUM SEALING MACHINE Filed June 1, 192; eSheets-Sheet 2 I 5b Jr .98 4/ III 2 Z7 WITNESS INVENTORG.

6 Sheets-Sheet 4 III" Filed June 1, 1921 llillI/l/llllI/I/ll!)xwwwwmmwmaasxsssmsssmxw WITNESS v Match 24. 1925.

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March 24. 1925. I 1,531,081

I A. S. DONDERO ET AL VACUUM SEALING MACHINE FiledJune 1, 1921 6Sheets-Sheet 5 r WITNESS INVENTORS meme 5. Don/0:120 Gears: 4. BARDETZhflmw 2&4 ATTORNEYS March 24. 19 25.

A. S. DONDERO ET AL VACtJUM SEALING MACHINE Filed June 1, 1921 6Sheets-Sheet 6 WITNESS JV. 5

INVENTORS ALE/NO 3 DOA/0520 64 0665 A. 1571x057" BY Mt Mfannq ATTORNEYSPatented Mar. 24, 1925.

UNITED STATES, PATE "1,531,0 1 NT OFFICE.

ALIBINO DONDERO, OF OAKLAND, AND GEORGE A. BABDET, OF BERKELEY, GALI-I'ORNIA.

VACUUM SEALING MACHINE.

Application filed June 1,

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, Anemo S. DoNoE'Ro andGEORGE A. BARDET, citizens of the United States of America, andresidents of Oakland and Berkeley,respectively, county of Alameda, andState of California, have invented a new and useful Vacuum Sealing-Machine, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to machines for sealing vacuumized containers.

'One of the objects of the invention is the provision of a vacuumsealing or tipping machine in which each can to be operated on is placedin an individual vacuumized chamber and there automatically tipped andthen discharged. Another object of the invention is the provision of avacuum sealing or tipping machine having individual .vacuumizingchambers for the can to be operated upon, in which provision is made forpreventing movement of the can head relative to the can body during thesealing or tipping-process. Another object of the invention is theprovision of a vacuum sealing or' tipping machine having individualvacuumizing chambers, and in ,which means are provided for preventingvariation in the degree of vacuum due to influx of air from any otherchamber. Another object of the invention is the provision of a tippingiron, the heat of which .is automatically mainta-ined at substantially aconstant point.

Another object of the invention is the provision of improved means forfeeding cans to be operated upon into the machine.

()ur invention possesses other objects and features of advantage, someof which, withthe foregoing, will beset forth in the following descrition of our invention. It is to be understood thatwe do not limitourselves to the showing made by the said descrip positioned within thecasing and t e tipping iron in ope atio Fig. 5'is a horizontal can headsare 1921. Serial No. 474,239.

sectional view of a portion of the mechanism, taken in a plane indicatedby the line 5" for the left hand side of Fig. 5 and in a plane indicatedby theline 5 of F ig. 2 for can to be sealed or tipped upon each tableduring the rotation of the frame. Above each, table is arranged avacuumizing chamber adapted to receive the can on the table, and meansare provided for raising the table during the rotation of the frame toposition the can within the vacuumizing chamber, and then to exhaust theair from the chamber and from .the can. Means are provided forpreventing the air exhausted from any one chamber from lessening thedegree of vacuum in any other chamber, and means are also provided forpreventing movement of the can ,headmelative to the can body during thesealing or tipping operation. When the cans enter the machine each bearsupon its head adjacent to the vent therein a small portion of solder.

One of the great difliculties in tippin machines hitherto has been theflipping 0d of the solder by the sudden movement of the can head at themoment of vacuumization. Another grave difliculty which has hithertobarred success has. been the puncturing of the fluid solder by the flowof air, either into or out of the can. Sudden variations in the vacuumin the .vacuumizing chamber of course result in a current of air thruthe vent in the can head. If this occurs while the solder is still in amelted condition, it is blown'off the vent or sucked into the can andthe vent remains open. Both of these-difficulties have been overcome inour machine in which the vacuum in each chamber is maintainedsubstantially constant until the. solder has cooled, and the re'ventedfrom movement which will dispiiwethe solder before it is fusedover thevent. Eflicient means is also provided for carefully and closelyregulating the heat of the tipping iron. This is entirely automatic, asis also the movement of the tipping iron into engagement with 1 thesolder. After the tipping 11'011 is with-- completely vacuumized andsealed. The

operation of the machine is rapid and con tinuous. In a long test runjust completed less than one per cent of the cans passed thru themachine were found by subsequent tests to be defective. a

More particularly our device tomprises a bed plate 2 on which is rigidlyfixed the ver tical hollow shaft 3 uponwhich are rigidly fixed the lowercam track plate 4 and the upper cam track plate 6. Supported on theupper cam track plate by suitable studs 7 is the insulator plate 8 uponwhich the con tact rings 9 are mounted. At the lower end of the shaft 3a thrust hearing 11 is arranged and resting on the thrust bearing androtatably mounted onthe shaft is a rotary frame comprising. horizontalelements 12, 13-and 14 connected by suitable vertical elements 16 and17. Se-

cured to the lower portion of the rotary 7 thereof is the bevel ear 18driven by a suit-' able pinion on the horizontal shaft 19 the outer endof which is provided with a worm A. worm driven by the shaft 22 impartsmo-' 49 wheel enclosed within the casing 21.

tion to the worm wheel and in turn is driven by the pulley 23 fixed onthe-outer end of the shaft 22. The pulley 23 is connected by 1 belt 24to the motor 26 mounted on a su1t-' able bracket arranged on the bedplate;

Fixed to the-rotary frame are a plurality of tubular brackets 27 whichextend downwardly on the outside of the stationary wall 28 mounted onthe bed plate. Slidably mounted in each tubular bracket is a shank 29 onthe top of which is fixed the table 31 upon which the can to beoperatedupon is placed, the fixed flange 32 serving to center the. canon the table. A plunger 33 having the'head 34 normally lymg flush withthe top of the table is shdably arranged within the tables shank and atthe lower end sis.

fitted with a fixed block-36, between which 60 andfthe lower end ofthe'shank 29 the coil spring 37 'is'interposed. The block 36 is formed witha, side extension adapted to slide in the slot 38 formed on the innerside of the tubular bracket. Rotary movement of the plungenin the blockand of the table on" frame and forming the bottom member ture.

the plunger is prevented by suitable splines interposed between theparts. A roller 41 mounted on the block 36 engages in the cam track 42fixed on the circular wall 28, and thus by appropriate shape of the camtrack I vertical movement as desired may be imparted to the table andlunger.

Alined above each tab e 31 is an open bottom casing 43 rigidly mountedupon the rotary frame by means of the bracket 44. The lower edge of thecasing is flanged and provided with a conformable gasket 45, and theproportions of the cam track 42 and related parts are such that at thedesiredtime' table 31 is raised into sealed engagement with the gasketthus tightly closing the casing. With the seating of the table 31against the gasket, a small further advance of the cam raises theplunger a small amount thus lifting the can off of the table. Thediameter of the plunger head is considerably smaller than that of thecan so that the lower can head is pressed inwardly to hold it fromflexing movement during the vacuumizing process. I

Means are also provided for holding the upper can head from suchmovement. Ar- Y ranged in the casing 43 is a slide 46 provided with aflange 47 adapted to engage the upper head of the can about the venttherein w en the can is raisedinto the casing. A screw 48 which engagesa suitably formed slot inthe side of the slide revents the slide fromfalling out of the casing. Spring pressed stops 49 are arrangedto'engage the end'of the casing as the table 31 is seated against thegasket. Thus the weight of the slide 46, plus the pressure exerted bythe spring pressed stops 49, tends to press inwardly the upper head ofthe can, preventing. all flexure during the subsequent proc esses. Itwill be understood of course that the cans are uniform in size and thatthe parts of the mechanism are proportioned to tension the can headsufiiciently to prevent movement without incurring danger of rup-Arranged in the upper portion of each casing are two valves 51 and 52.As bestshown in Fig. 5 each valve is normally closed by a spring 53 andopened by the pressure of the rocker arm 54 against the valve'stem 56.The rocker arm 54 is pivotally moimted between the two valve stems androcking motion thereof alternately opens and permits to close thevalvein the 12 head of the casing. The rocker arm is controlled byailink57 pivoted to the rocker arm 58 mounted on the ivot pin 59 set in theframe above t e cam track plate 7 4. roller 61 mounted on the rocker 58115 and .engagingin the cam track 62 fixe'd on the plate 4 impartsmotion to the rocker 54 andalternately opens and :closes eachof thevalves 1n the 'casin headQ j Valve '52 opens Into the atmosphere butvacuumized to a high degree by suitable means of well known characterconnected thereto by means of the pipe 66 connected into the chamber 64from the casings.

into the walls-of the chamber 64 by a suitable slip coupling67. A checkvalve 68 is inserted in each pipe 63 so that when air -is drawn out ofthe casing it cannot flow back to the casing. This arrangement iseffective in preventing variations in the vacuum in the various casingsor vacuumizing'chambers since in the operation of the machine cans areconstantly being taken'in and discharged and hence air is constantlyfiowirig it were not for the check valve 68 in each passage, there wouldbe a tendency for air sucked in from one vacuumizing chamber to reducethe vacuum in other chambers. This would give a fluctuating pressure inthe vacuumizing chambers which would be disastrous to satisfactory work.

Means are also provided for automatically fusing the piece of solderwith which each can is introduced into its casing. In forming the canheads the center of the upper head is slightly depressed and punctured.The puncture serves as a vent thru 1 which the air may be drawn from thein- Y tors 74 and 7 5.

terior of the can before the can is sealed in the vacuumizingchamber andthe depression serves as a recess to hold the particle of solder droppedthereon immediately prior to the entrance of the can into the ma-'chine. Referring particularly to'Figs. 3, 6,.

and 7 the tipping orfsolderingiron comprises a 'sha t slidably mountedin the stuffing box 71 in the head of the casing.

The lower end of the shaft is provided with a copper point/72 which issurroundedby a heating element 73 'energized'thru conduo; Conduc r 74 isconnected by the usual means th u fuse-wire 77 to the lead 78.'Conductor 5 is simi1arly conj-L nected by fuse wire 79 tothe spring.81nor-rimally maintaining contact with the contact point82 which is theterminal of'lead 83. .l nterposed betweenthe spring and a lava block 84setsome distance downwardly from the upper end of the shaft is a rod 86which is of course affected bythe temperature of the tippingiron. Withan excessive rise in temperature of the tipping iron the expansion ofthe rod 86 breaks the circuit by lifting the spring out of engagementwith the contact point 82.

is thus secured nd after adjustment the soldering or. tip mg iron 15mamtamed at tion. ing a worm wheel 108 fixed on the shaft.

With a drop in the temperature ofthe tipping iron contraction of the rod86 permits reestablishment of the circuit. A very close degree ofregulation substantially aconstant temperature. At

the proper time in the sequence of operation the tipping iron is loweredthru the annular I flange 47 into contact withth'e solder on the thelever at the proper time.

' The leads 7 8 and 83 are connected to bind; ing posts 92 and 93respectively. The lower portions of the binding posts are provided withbrushes 94 which form contacts with the rings 9. Heavily insulatedconductors 96 passing upwardly thru the hollow central shaft supply therings with current.

Means are provided for automatically seating cans upon the can tablesduring the rotation of the rotary frame. Adjacent the peripheral edge ofthe rotary frame element 12 is a stationary platform 97 along the outeredge of which the conveyor 98 is arranged. The conveyor runs over asprocket 99 mounted on the shaft 101 which on the outer end is providedwith a bevel gear 102 driven by a similar gear on the shaft 103 which inturn is driven by a gear 104 on .retain thercans thereon and on theopposite side a shaft 107 performs a similar func- The shaft is drlvenby a worm engag- 101.. The conveyor carries the cans intothe star wheel109 mounted on the shaft 111 and driven by the gears 119. from theshaft19. In order to insure presenting a can to the star wheel in position tobe properly engaged thereby, we provide means on the shaft 107 forsynchronizing the movement of the cans on the conveyor so that a can isalways in the proper position to be caught by thestar wheel withoutinjury. This is accomplished by a helical "ane or thread .113 arrangedon the shaft. The movement of therconveyor 98 is considerably fasterthan the peripheral speed of the star wheel and as the can entersbetween the guide rail 106 on one side and the shaft 107 on the otherside it encounters the helical vane and is thereafter retarded in itsmovement on the conveyor by the speed permitted by the ven though thecans are placed on the conveyor 98 at irregular intervals, they willbunchup as they approach the star wheel and be fed, one at a time intothe recesses thereof. As the can is caught by the star wheel it is movedoff of the conveyor onto theplatform 97 and carried around in contactwith the guard rail-114 upon the rotary frame and finally seated againstthe flange 32 on the table, all "of the speeds being of coursesynchronized to sult. s

Means are provided for removing the can from the ti ping operation. Anoutgoing conve 116 is driven by a sprocket mounted o the shaft 101 and atable or platform 117 bridges the space between the edge of the rotaryframe 12 and the conveyor 116.

Guiderails 118 intercept the cans and defleet them off of the table ontothe platform 117 and onto the. outgoing conveyor.

Opmtion.'Th'e incoming cans, which it will be understood have beenpacked, the

v into the upper part of the casing and upon dition obtains by the timethe rotation of the the vcompletion of the movement of the plunger, thecasing is tightly sealed and the can is firmly held, between the plungerhead and the flange 4L7 on the slide, with a.

1 venting flexure of the can head during the pressure sufiicient to makerelative movement of the can head impossible. This conframe has carriedthe can to the position 121 at which point the valve 51 is opened andthe air suckedout of the casing and the can thru the pipe 63. With thevacuumiza tion of the chamber surrounding the can the pressure of theair within the can would normally, before it could escape thruthe vent,-throw the headsoutwardly and dislodge the solder. Thismovement is'howfever 'preventedby the means described and the can is vacuumiz ed withoutdisturbance "of the solder. 5 Vacuumization continues for about one-halfa\revolution' of the rotary frame and as the can reaches the position.122 the soldering iron'is moved downwardly for a moment into contactwith "the -solder and then raised, only the briefest period he ingrequired to fuse the solder over the vent. The fused solder is thengiven an-opportunity to cool without fluctuation in the degree ofjvacuum and when the can has pro- 7 mediately thereafter the tablebegins its re- 65.

turn fidthe lower position and at position permit of this re-.

e machine upon the completion of.

124 the tipped can is free'ofthef casing in which it was vacuumized andimmediately thereafter is caught by the guide rails 118 and divertedupon the outgoing conveyor.

We claim:

1. In a machine for tipping cans having vented heads, the combination ofa casing for the can, means for vacuumizing said casing, andmeans forpreventing fiexureof the can head around the vent during the sealingoperation.

2. In a machine for tipping cans having vented heads, the combination ofa casing for the can, means for vacuumizingisaid cas- "the vent, andmeans for preventing flexure of the can head around the vent during thetipping.

5. In a machine for tipping cans having ing, automatically operatedmeans for fusing solder over the vent, and means for pretipping.

6. In a machine for tipping cans having vented headsfthe combination ofa casing for the can, means for automatically introducing a can intosaid casing, means for vacuumizing said casing, automatically operatedmeans for fusing solder over the vent,

and means for preventing movement of the,

body duxring the .vacuuniizing said casing, automaticallyopvented heads,the combination of a' casing for the can, means for vacuumlzmg saidcas-Y erated means for fusing solder over the vent, I means for preventingmovement of the can head relative to the can bodyduring the tipping andmeans for automatlcally removing the can from said casing.

8. In a vacuum can-sealing machindthe combination of a pluralityofcasings for the cans, means for vacuumizmg said casings, and means forpreventing a change in the degree of vacuum in one of the casingseffecting a change in the degree of vacuum in any other casing. I

9. In a vacuum can-sealing machine, the

combination of a pluralityv of casings for the the flow of fluid to thecasing.

10. In a machine for tipping'can's, the

combinationef a casing for the can, a stop in said casing for-engagingthe upper head of the can, means for moving said can into said casingagainst said stop, and means for pressing the lower head of thecan-wherebyflexure of the can heads is prevented.

' 1l.'In a machine for tipping cans, the combination of a casing for thecan, a spring-pressed stop in said casing for engaging the upper head ofthe can, means for moving said can into the casing against said stop,means for resiliently pressing the lower head of the can, and means fortipping the can while the heads are so held.

12. In a machine for tipping cans, the combination of a frame, aplurality of casings arranged on said frame, a can table on said framebelow each casing, means for raising each table to position the canthere on Within its casing, means for vacuumizing the casings, means ineach casing for preventing movement of the can heads relative to the canbody, and means for tipping the can while the heads are so held,

13. In a machine for: tipping cans, the combination of. a frame, aplurality of casings arranged on said frame, a can table on said framebelow each casing, means for raising each table to position the canthereon within its casing, means for vacuumizing the casings, means ineach casing for preventing movement of the can heads relative to the canbody, means for tipping the can while the heads are so held, means forreleasing the vacuum in each casing, and means for lowering each tableto remove the can thereon from its casing.

14,111 a machine for tippin combination of a frame, a plura ity ofcasings arranged on said frame, a can table on said frame below eachcasing, means for retating-said frame, a vacuum chamber on said i thevacuum chamber to each casing, a ,va ve controlling each of saidpassages, a release valve on each casing, a tipping iron slidablymounted in each casing, and means operative by the rotation of saidframe for successivelyperforming the following functions in respect ofeach casing, raise the table toposition the can thereon within itscasing, open the passage valve to vacuumize the casing, move the tippingiron to operative position. and return, close the 'passa e valve, openthe release valve to release t e vacuum, and lower the table to removethe can from its casing.

cans, the

15. In a machine for tipping cans, the combination of a frame, aplurality of openbottom casings arranged on said frame, means on saidframe below each casing for supporting a can and closing the casing,

means for positioning a can on each supporting means, means for raisingeach supporting means to position the can thereon within the associatedcasing and seal the bottom opening thereof, means for vacuumizing thecasing, and means for tipping the can.

16. In a machine for tipping cans, the combination of a frame, aplurality of openbottom casings arranged on said frame, means on saidframe below each casing for supporting a can and closingethe casing,means for positioninga can on each sup porting means, means for raisingeach supporting means to position the can thereon within the associatedcasing and seal the bottom opening thereof, means in each casing forpreventing flexure of the heads of the can therein, means forvacuumizing the casing, and means for tipping the can.

l7. Ina machine for tipping cans, the combination of a rotary frame, aplurality of open-bottom casings arranged on said frame, a tableslidably mounted on said frame below each casing for supporting a canand closing the casing, a plunger slidable in each table'and adapted toengage the lower head of the can thereon, a spring interposed betweeneach table and the associated plunger, means operative by the rotationof said frame for raising each lunger to resiliently seat the associatedagainst its casing and position the can in the casing on the plunger, aresilient stop against which the upper can head presses, means forvacuumizing the casing, and means for tipping the can.

18. In a machine for tipping cans, the combination of a rotary frame, aplurality of vacuumizing chambers arranged on said frame, means forsealing a can in each of table said chambers, a vacuum chamber. on saidcontrol and release valves, and means for tipping the can in' eachvacuumizing chamber.-

In testimony whereof, we have hereunto set our hands.

ALBINO s'. DONDERO. v GEORGE A.. BARDET.

